Earlier this morning, a police officer who was on duty at the Queen’s funeral was carried away on a stretcher after collapsing. He was photographed lying on the ground while being taken care of by colleagues and members of the Royal Navy in central London.
He was then transported away on a stretcher.
An associate of the Gurkha regiment on Horse Guards Road, in an unrelated but simultaneous incident, fell ill during the ceremony. The individual also collapsed but was able to resume after drinking water to hydrate. The stretcher brought by two soldiers was not needed.
There were cheers of relief from the crowd when it became apparent that he could continue.
These incidents follow in the wake of the guard who fainted and fell from the podium while standing vigil right next to the Queen’s Coffin at the Palace of Westminster on Thursday, September 15.
Queen Elizabeth’s funeral service was described as the largest surveillance undertaking in the history of Britain. It is guarded by at least 1,500 soldiers and 10,000 police officers to form a six-mile-wide ring of civil protection around central London. Numerous bridges and roads have been closed and 23-mile barriers erected for crowd control and security, with police and sniffer dogs working to inspect passersby.
Specialist firearm officers were drafted around Westminster Abby while sentries sporting binoculars were posted at high altitude positions like government building rooftops.
Heavy security borders the Royal Hospital Chelsea. Police set up concrete blocks, blocking the roads to 600 yards away at 6 AM this morning. Stretch across the street is two rows of bollards and a line of portable ani-terror barricades able to withstand an attack from a bomb-laden truck.
A delay occurred when the official state car for Qatar was stopped during a 30-minute-long mix-up at the barricade. Meanwhile, police spotters remained vigil in temporary towers at Windsor Castle.
The individual in charge of the operation in the capital, Met’s DAC Stuart Cundy, stated that the force would employ all available tactics and tools at their disposal to ensure that the Queen’s Coffin, hundreds of VIPs, the Royal Family, the attending world leaders of the Commonwealth, and the million anticipated people to attend the mourning service, is protected.
The presence of authority figures at the funeral service reportedly exceeds the London 2012 Olympics (which had 10,000 officers working per day) to become the most complex policing operation in the force’s history.
RELATED: Royal Guard Collapses at The Foot Of The Queen’s Coffin – Watch Video
RELATED: Prime Minister Andrew Holness and His Wife, Juliet Holness Attend Queen’s Funeral
RELATED: The Queen Is A “Symbol Of Genocide, Colonisation And…” Says This Woman – Watch Video
